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Review of Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger V2
author: Martin "mpot" Pot
published: 26 September 2007
This review looks at a Cactus wireless flash trigger V2, used for triggering off-camera flashes.
Background
Some of the photography blogs, particularly Strobist,
have piqued my interest in experimenting with off-camera flash photography.
I investigated the options for a wireless flash trigger to suit my Canon EOS 350D
and Canon Speedlite 430EX flash.
The main options are:
- Canon ST-E2 Remote Speedlite Transmitter
- Pocket Wizard
- various eBay flash triggers
The ST-E2 will only work with compatible Canon flashes, uses infrared, supports E-TTL,
has built-in focus assist, and has a range of 10-15m, and is approx AUD$280.
Pocket Wizards are the defacto standard when it comes to professional wireless flash triggers,
and are used by many professionals. The Pocket Wizards use RF, and have a range of 100m or more,
but will cost you approx AUD$600 for a pair.
There are various cheap alternatives available on eBay - typically cheaply made. Some of these
triggers are known to have compatibility issues with Canon 430EX and 580EX flashes.
Buying an ST-E2 would have locked me into using compatible Canon flashes only.
While the Pocket Wizards are appealing, they are expensive, with the eBay triggers typically
being a tenth of the cost of the Pocket Wizards.
Investigating the eBay triggers in more detail indicated there were various types available,
with some providing an integrated hot shoe for triggering remote flashes, while others only
provided a PC sync socket.
I already have a Canon 430EX flash, and it doesn't have a PC sync socket. As a result,
I narrowed my selection to wireless remote triggers which had a hot shoe on the receiver,
thus allowing it to trigger the 430EX flash, without requiring additional cables and hot shoe adaptors.
Note that there are some other wireless flash triggers under development, such as the
Radio Popper, which apparently will be similar to the Pocket Wizards,
but with TTL support.
An open source wireless trigger
(forum for discussion is here) is also under development.
Gadget Infinity Wireless Flash Triggers
Gadget Infinity is an eShop based in Hong Kong,
selling a wide range of accessories for digital cameras and communications.
Gadget Infinity is owned by Harvest One Limited, and Harvest One Limited manufacture
these Cactus-branded wireless flash triggers.
Gadget Infinity sell directly from their website, and also sell their products via
eBay.
Their 4-Channel Wireless Flash Trigger V2
has an integrated hot shoe on the receiver, and according to the various reviews I read,
provided pretty good functionality.
Note that earlier versions of this wireless flash trigger had compatibility issues with the Canon 430EX and 580EX
flashes, with lots of false triggering. This includes many of the similar looking wireless flash triggers
available on eBay.
However, these compatibility issues have been addressed in V2 of this remote.
While the previous versions of this wireless flash trigger looks identical to the one shown on this page,
only V2 is labelled with "Cactus" on the receiver - earlier versions just have the "PT-04" label on the
receiver.
I bought the
4-Channel Wireless Flash Trigger V2
(US$29.95 ~= AUD$36.50) directly from Gadget Infinity's website.
Shipping cost was an additional US$6.
Note that I also purchased an additional
4-Channel Wireless Flash Receiver V2 (for V2 Trigger)
(US$16.95), as I'm intending to get another (probably non-Canon) flash sometime.
A parcel containing the wireless flash trigger and the additional receiver arrived from Hong Kong
4 days after I placed the order.
Features and Description
According to the Gadget Infinity website, and the box the trigger came in,
it has the following features:
- includes one trigger and one receiver
- triggers external flashes simultaneously
- 4 channels with hot shoe connector for external flashes
- highest responding time upto 1/1000s
- operates on 433MHz radio frequency
components of the Cactus wireless flash trigger
As shown in the image above, the box contained the following:
- transmitter (with battery pre-installed)
- receiver
- PC sync cable
- CR2 3v alkaline battery for receiver
The receiver has an on/off switch, and an LED to indicate triggering.
On the side is a PC sync socket, allowing it to trigger devices via the
PC sync cable provided with the trigger.
The L-bracket is aluminium, and can be mounted in a hot shoe (it doesn't have any
electrical contacts), or on a standard 1/4" screw mount.
The locking knob allows the body of the receiver to be rotated relative to the
L-bracket, and the indentations on the body allow it to be locked in the
upright position, as well as 45 degrees forwards or backwards.
receiver
The transmitter is also a very compact unit, and sports a test button and status
LED on the top.
top view of the transmitter
The bottom of the transmitter has a plastic hot shoe mount, to allow it to be
triggered by a camera's hot shoe.
Also underneath the transmitter is a set of DIP switches, to allow the channel to be set.
bottom view of the transmitter
On the side of the transmitter is a 3.5mm PC sync socket, and it allows you to trigger
the transmitter using an external trigger mechanism.
A single screw holds the two halves of the transmitter together, and a type-23A 12V battery
is pre-installed in the transmitter.
Using the Trigger
Before the trigger can be used, the supplied CR2 battery must be installed into the
receiver (after first removing the shrink-wrap plastic on the battery).
The DIP switches on the bottom of the transmitter, and inside the receiver must
be set to the same channel. This particular model supports 4 channels, so it's
just a matter of selecting a channel that doesn't conflict with anyone else in the
vicinity using the same triggers.
inside the receiver
After turning on the receiver, test communications by pressing the "TEST" button on the top
of the transmitter, and you should see the LED on the receiver briefly light up.
Now it's just a matter of mounting the transmitter on the hot shoe of your camera,
and mount a flash on the hot shoe of the receiver, and you're ready for some off-camera
flash photography.
Providing the receiver is within range of the transmitter, when the camera's shutter button
is depressed to take a photo, the transmitter will trigger the receiver, which in turn
will trigger the flash.
Initial Impressions
The Cactus wireless flash trigger is cheaply made. That's certainly expected, as it's
only about one tenth of the cost of Pocket Wizards.
The cheapness is evident when you notice that the battery cover on the receiver
won't close properly after installing the battery.
the battery cover won't close
Also, the quality of the PC sync sockets on the receiver seem to be a variable.
On one of the receivers I purchased, the centre pin is off-centre, and is almost
shorting out against the ring.
However, the PC sync socket on the second receiver has the centre pin more central.
The photo below demonstrates this - with the off-centre pin shown on the right hand side.
PC sync sockets on the two receivers
Despite the somewhat cheap construction of the unit, the L bracket on the receiver is
made of anodised aluminium, so the threaded 1/4" hole in the base should
survive repeated insertions of a threaded 1/4" bolt.
Numerous people have reported false triggering with the earlier models of these wireless flash triggers
and the Canon 430EX or 580EX flashes.
I haven't had any instances of false triggering, but have had some instances where the
flash failed to fire.
Next Steps
Numerous people have posted information on increasing the range of this particular
wireless flash trigger, by adding an external antenna to the transmitter.
For more details, check out these sites:
There's plenty of other information on the web about these triggers,
including information on
improving the rigidity
of the receiver mount,
reboxing with an AAA battery pack,
improving triggering reliability by
shorting out the hot shoe earth to the battery's
negative terminal,
adding a 3.5mm sync socket,
discussion about the internals, and more.
Summary
Although they are cheaply made, the Cactus wireless flash trigger is very good value for money.
The triggering isn't as reliable as the Pocket Wizards, but the Cactus trigger is far cheaper!
References
last updated 3 Oct 2012
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